Wednesday, November 18, 2009

We need a real full time...

... round the clock pure breed CrossFit gym in Stockholm...! I just thought I'd put it out there:-) Just play with the thought:-)
hhhmmmmmmmm!

I am actually a bit more tired than I thought I'd be after todays WoDs so I will keep it short and to the point.

WoD #1 0800
4 Power snatches
8 Chest to bar jumping pull ups
12 Air squats
AMRAP 12 min
Score 10 rounds

It was actually a super funny WoD that was more taxing than I thought it would be- give it a try:-)

WoD #2 1830
Jerk 5 x 3 reps

I worked my way to 90kg and got a pretty solid set of 3- and for some odd reason that was the end of the journey! After that I just could not muster the strength to get a dynamic drive on the bar, and found myself having to press the bar a little to get a fully extended arm, in the landing... Hmmm I guess 90kg will just have to do for now:-)

Until tomorrow

Much love

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

WoD's at a globo gym....

.... will I ever wisen up?

I am still on the 2 WoD's a day deal, and I have to admit that I really like it! I am beginning to get my diet together, with the added WoD, and I am beginning to get my rest/sleep to add up as well- so it feels like I am beginning to respond rather well to doing two WoD's a day.
For some odd reason it feels like there is a positive tention in my body, and I feel like I am able to push myself a little harder already.. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the feeling stays with me for a while:-)

So todays first WoD was:

3 rounds for time of:
Run 400m
20 double unders
20 back extentions
time 15:32:-(


I am still pissed at that time! I thought I'd be a lot faster! The thing however is that I have decided that I am no longer allowed to do double unders the way I have done them before, now I have to do at least two unbroken in order for them to count. I used to do one, and then a single skip, before I'd do another... There will be no more of that- as of now I am beginning my chase to catch up with Martin Altemark, who is the double under beast!
So the main part of this WoD was spent whipping myself with the jump rope swearing in every single language I know! To add injury to insult, some guy grabbed the back extention bench, and it took some serious persuation before I could get it back. Then a trainer grabbed my jump rope while I was running.. I mean what are the odds?

3 hours later it was time for the next WoD of the day:

Back Squat 5 x 3 rep!

I worked my way up to 125 kg which felt great! The bottom felt solid, and the drive up felt really good- however you are never going to believe this- there were no more weights avaliable! The rest of the weights were taken, and noone felt like sharing the love- So I had to call it a day..
I am pretty happy with the workout, but would have liked to actually go to failure.. Better luck tomorrow I guess!

Much love

Mads

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Row like you meant it!

I just can't help loving that comment! I was given by a dear friend of mine when he was coaching a client of his through the last passages of a nasty rowing intervall that I swear I will never try to attempt! But for some odd reason it made sense yesterday in the first workout of the day, which was done at 08.00:

5 rounds of:
500 meter row
Rest 2 min
My times were:
1:40 felt good
1:39 felt good
1:42 felt it getting harder
1:48 disaster struck!
1:46 tried to row like I meant it, but got nowhere!


The beauty of the concept 2 row is that you can set the timer to time your rest intervalls as well, which means you get the perscribed rest, and nothing else.-)
Initially I thought I'd go for a longer rest period, but the point of this particular row was to get it to suck! I would say tht I got what I bargined for. 500 meters is just enough to suck a lot, and 2 min rest is just a little short for a guy with the cardio of a 80 year old chain smoking astmatic woman- read me! So was just what the doctor ordered!

Baby steps!

At 14.00 that afternoon it was time for the second workout of the day- technique work on the snatch! Initially the plan was to do 5 sets of 5 snatches, maintaining focus on hitting that full extention at the top, and then getting into a solid bottom position!
I began with 40 kg, and the worked my way up to 60 kg, which felt like it was where I needed to be if I was supposed to be able to work on my technique. At the end I really felt like I got a good drive through that second lift, and the bottom felt very solid- all in al I would say that I am very happy with that workout!

That was all for yesterday- tomorrow I will share todays fast little sucker, and some more intervall running! I just have to remind everyone that I run like a guy with broken legs, so this should be fun:-)

Much love

Mads

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Did it again!

Well yesterday was the first day of my new approach towards becoming a better athlete! It was pretty funny actually, kind of the same feeling I have when I begin following someone elses programming for the first time, and don't really know what to expect!

I began the day with a 3 k run- I did'nt time the effort, I just tried to keep a constant pace, that weas always just a little faster than what I was comfortable with. I felt good after I was done, but it was mentally tough to always stay out of my comfort zone. everytime I would begin to get comfortable wit the speed, and my technique, I would increase my speed! I really need more workouts like this one.

The primary focus of yesterday was the afternoon wortkout with Richard. I was going to work up to the heaviest set of 3 rep front squat that I could do without compromising technique after every squat set we did 12 rep of weighted dips. I wanted to be absolutely certain that I owned the lift all the way. The point was never to go as heavy as possible at all costs, but to own the lift.
I worked my way up to a solid set of 3 rep at 100kg- the ladder there looked like this 3 x 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg and then 3 sets at 100kg.

The trip up to the heaviest lift was a bit of a deja vú thing all together. Everything felt really good, until I looked at the video that Richard was shooting and discovered that my left knee was collapsing in the botton of the lift. Since I have had that problem for the longest time, and have been fighting it in virtually every squat I have done since I discovered the problem, I decided that I needed to approach the fault in a new way if I was going to fix it.
I decided to change my stance and bring my feet in an inch or two! The reward came immidiately- the next set felt rock solid. I could probably have gone heavier but felt pretty happy that I had gotten what I came for, and wanted to end the workout on a good note!
Another thing that felt really good was that the turn in the bottom felt good! I never felt that I lost my elbows, or had to fight to maintain the posture- could it be that the work I have been doing on the side with my posterior chain is finally beginning to pay of?

Question of the day? have you ever had problems with your squat? What have you done to fix them!

Well, yesterday was day 1, today was day 2- tomorrow I will share what I did today with you!

Much love

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Not the smartest cat...

.. in town!
Not the fastest moped on the docks!
Not the sharpest tool in the shed!
Not the fastest kid around the X-mas tree!
I guess what I am trying to sat is that I am not nearly as smart as I would like to think, but sometimes I am smart enough to know that something is a bad idea, even before I get started. What I am about to embark on tomorrow is exactly one of these things! So after you have read the following, please share your thoughts and experiences!

As of tomorrow the plan is to do two workouts a day! One workout will be more of a cardio vascular nature ie running, rowing intervals or distances. Basically I will try to improve my cardio vascular capacity in these workouts!
The second WoD will consist of heavy lifts, or regular WoD's mainly consisting of heavier lifts. The idea is to maintain strength, and put a bit of focus on my olympic lifts!
There is a lot more to be said about the plan behind this regimen, but I'll keep that to myself, and not bore you all to death with it, until I know how this is gong to work out, and what the effects are!

So what do you think? Those of you who have been doing something like this earlier please share your thoughts!

Today I did a workout that was on the main site a while back:

12 Power snatch 30 kg
10 Push ups
AMRAP 20 min

I got 13 rounds!

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, to get the second pull all the way in the power snatch, after a couple of rounds- but it was a good experience, and I liked the WoD..

Gotta go now, so much love!


Mads

Thursday, November 5, 2009

A complete idiot..

is exactly what I felt like after I had completed the WoD I came up with yesterday!

I had just finished the WoD and was more or less lying on the floor trying to recooperate after what had turned out to be a much harder WoD than I had anticipated! So after the initial discomfort had gone by, I asked Richard if the work I had done was legit? He very respectfully informed me that approximately the last 3-4 reps of the HSPU, of the last 3 rounds, were short by something like 4-5cm!
Now it is not like that has never happened to me before, or that I have gone delusional, and think that I could never do anything wrong, or perform reps that were not legit. The problem this time was that I was absolutely, 100%, completely sure that I had been head to ground on every rep!
Somewhere in the mist of fatigue my brain had played a trick on me, and I could have sworn that I hit the ground, when in reality I was still missing a couple of cm. This just goes to show how importatnt it is to have someone to work out with, so that you can get an honest picture of how your workout really went!

I have seen some very impressive stats posted by athletes, who have later not been able to come close to performing the effort that would actually give them scores like that! It may very well be that these athletes are not trying to decieve anyone, but have been working with noone around to tell them when their brain has played tricks on them, the way my brain played tricks on me yesterday!
Have you had the same experience? What happened? Please share!

The WoD?

5 rounds of
5 thrusters 60kg
10 HSPU
15 pull ups


The rule was that the sets had to be unbroken, it you broke a set you would have to do the set from the begining again! The problem however was that after two full unbroken rounds- I had to admit that we would never get out of the gym if the HSPU had to be unbroken! So I decided that if I broke the HSPU I had to do two burpees for every break! Otherwise the sets had to be unbroken!
I dont know what I was thinking, but We got tyhrough it, and I will definately be doing it again:-)

That is it for now

Much love

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Do you stretch?

I know that there are as many theories about the use of stretching as there are theories about who shot Kennedy, but I just wanted to raise the question again, and hear what you all have to say?

I have not done any organized stretching and would not recommend it to anyone who is not notoriously short in ie the pectorial area etc. Instead I would recommend a thorough warm up that takes your entire body through some moves that will move you through the entire ROM of all the larger muscle groups! Doing this has allowed me to maintain a flexibility that I am almost happy with, and when I have not done it, I have been punished with all kinds of troublesome soreness!
To be honest with you- I have often figured that all the rules that apply to my clients probably did not apply to me, and skipped the warm up all together, and I have gotten my ass kicked by reality more times than I care to remember- so these days I warm up the way I always should have!

But I know that a lot of folks are almost religious about their stretch! So what do you do/recommend and why??

I am still in the process of getting back on track, so yesterdays WoD was:

10 deads 60kg
10 push ups
10 rounds
I have not been timing my work this week, since I am still trying to get a clear picture of where I am at, but it felt pretty good!

Then I did:

10 toes to bar
10 kb swings with a 42kg kettlebell
3 rounds
That also felt pretty good, even if I have to admit that my swings leave a lot to be desired!

That will be all for now, I have to go to the gym with my good friend Richard Sandberg now:-)

Until tomorrow

Much love

Monday, November 2, 2009

Post Scandinavian Challenge...

it's a tuesday morning and I have finally gotten a few hours off to sit down and evaluate the event we had in Halmstad this weekend ie the Scandinavian Challenge!

The first thing that comes to mind is that- it would not have been possible to host this event if it had not been for the good folk from Ekeiko! They let us use their facility, their website, their weightbars and weights, and basically everything else that you could possibly ask for! At our disposal we had the entire Eleiko sport center and everything in it! How could you possibly ask for more than that?
I hope that Eleiko feel like they gained as much from this event as we did, and that this is merely the begining of a very long love story between Eleiko and Crossfitters from all over the world!

The participants- where do I start? I am still touched by the way everyone cheered for everyone else, the way everybody stood up for each other and helped each other through the events! Noone seemed to care that this was actually a competition when someone needed a little support, it was just always there. This in its turn meant that everyone really got the chance to shine. A couple of guys had driven all the way from Germany, and had never had 60kg overhead, and they fought their way through the double under Grace workout, while the crowd went through the roof cheering them on! I don't think anyone was untouched by their effort!
In the other end of the spectrum you had people like Mikael Dahlin who tore off an impressive 901 meters in the tabata row! Or how about Blair Morrisons double under grace time of 3:46!!! Or Charlie who deadlifted 170 kg with a bodyweight of 68 kg! How about Amy Parchall from Ramstein who deadlifted 140kg to grab the last vacant spot for the final!
The athletes were amazing and really gave it their all this weekend! For that I am super grateful! Thank you for cmpeting and being so awesome!

The referees! I can honestly say that I think we had the pleassure of having the most qualified referees you could possibly assemble in Europe ( a couple were missing but they will be there next year)! Not one single solitary time during the competition was there any doubt on whether a rep was legit or not, and the fact that all referees were as qualified as they are, and that they had great communication with the athletes all the way through the events- really eliminated all doubts.. A huge thanks to all the referees!

The last one to thank will never accept the thanks irl, so I guess I'll just have to thank him this way! Martin Altemark is the proverbial wizard when it comes to organisation! He made everything run super smoothly all through the weekend, and I honestly dont see how any of this would have been possible without him! thank you Martin!

So now it is back to everyday life again, fighting the residue of a cold, and getting back into the world of eternal misery and bad ass metcons!
I decided to take it easy this week, so yesterday I worked my way through 15 reps of OHS with 40kg/ 50kg/ 55kg/ 60kg/ 65kg/ 70kg/ 75kg.. that last one was heavy! Something happens to my midline after 10 reps??

Thats is for today

Much love

Ps grattis älskling till segern i helgen- du är helt makalös!